14 DAY TRIAL // 2K Sports has always held the second place in the sports games race, which has been dominated by EA Sports. So, it needs to offer some pretty good and innovative concepts in order to gain ground on the dominating force of the market.
One such innovative idea has just been announced, as the company is saying that NBA 2K10, its fully-licensed basketball simulator, is being brought to China and the larger South East Asian market via a partnership with Tencent Holdings. And as if this wasn't enough, the game is also being offered online.
Ben Feder, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Take Two, declared that “I’m pleased to announce our first strategic move in what is now the fastest growing online game market in the world. Given the universal appeal of sports, specifically NBA basketball, we believe that our partnership with Tencent to make NBA 2K Online is the perfect entry point for Take Two into this market. NBA 2K has revolutionized the basketball gaming genre and we are confident that its best-in-breed pedigree can be fully leveraged in China with the support of our valued partners at Tencent and the NBA.”
The move makes sense because the Chinese have an almost unhealthy obsession with basketball. More than 1 billion people have watched the NBA Finals and sales of branded items are rising quickly, even if some of them might not be original.
So, an NBA-licensed videogame that allows players to take control of all the teams in the league and also former legends makes quite a lot of sense. The fact that the NBA 2K10 Chinese edition will be offered online means that it will be easily accessible to players and even rises the possibility that the core style will be offered free to play with microtransactions providing the bulk of revenue.